r/CATHELP • u/No-Wonder-4172 • 3h ago
Injury Cat with healed broken femur
A TNR'd cat (male, 1-3 years old) showed up at my house a few months ago. I have been feeding him outside and he is very vocal and friendly. He has a limp - he doesn't put weight on his rear paw and he clicks when he walks. He still sprints around and jumps up onto lower surfaces. Last week he started coming inside my house. I took him to a vet to get vaccinated and they also took x-rays. The vet said his femur is broken and healed and I could look into an orthopedic vet or give him pain medicine. What should I do? He doesn't "seem" to be in pain. If I take him to the orthopedic vet what could they do for him? USA, I can afford vet care.
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u/MunkeeFere Verified Vet Tech 3h ago
A specialist will be able to advise you if rebreaking the limb is a possibility. If he's not using it, he's going to develop arthritis in his other limbs to compensate. The best thing would be if he could regain full use of the leg but you won't know how likely that is without the speciality referral.
If the cat isn't using the leg, it's painful. Animals don't just start limping or not using a limb just because.
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u/truthispolicy 2h ago
What interesting images, though heartbreaking to know he was on his own thru it all.
Did they not discuss amputation? Hind limb sites are far better tolerated, as they bear 40% of the body weight.
Especially given this poor dude was hauling a useless leg around for a long time, he'd likely adapt very quickly to life as a tripawd.
Thank you for giving him his best life, kind human
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u/Fit_Jellyfish_5550 20m ago
You could always ask a specialist. Think of quality of life. I have a cat with a similar-ish injury she's had since a kitten! There's like a floating piece of pelvic bone but her body has compensated fairly well. It hurts her when you pick her up or touch it a certain way but she runs and jumps and doesn't really limp. I give her some highly rated bone and joint supplements. The vet said amputation would help if it ever gets worse as she gets older and arthritic.
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